(no subject)
Last night was my mother's thank-you party for the relatives and friends she felt were supportive during her time as Mayor. I'd persuaded her to invite Jade and Vanessa so I wouldn't be stuck on my own. I strolled over to the rugby clubhouse a few minutes before opening and met Charis, who was doing the catering, in the car park. She immediately conscripted me into humping food upstairs to the kitchen for her.
Among the first arrivals were Father Ted and his wife. When it came up in conversation that I'm going to Åland for my holiday, and that although it's part of Finland they speak Swedish there, that was enough to send Ted into an account of a church visit he'd made to Sweden and a description of the constitution of the Swedish Lutheran Church - unlike other Lutheran churches it has bishops and is very like the Anglican Church. You learn something new every day.
As people began to arrive, for a while I was stuck with my mother's friend Belinda who came to sit at my table. Much of the time we struggled to find much to say to each other, so both resorted to regularly dipping into the peanut bowl. An elderly lady called Marge, who filled up the bowls on all the tables, gets the Letitia Cropley Award, as we immediately spotted that she'd mixed dry roasted nuts in with tropical mix! At least the awkward pauses were partly filled by our having to pick out the dry roasted nuts from our handfuls one by one...
While I was at the bar greeting Vanessa and family, Graham and Juliette arrived. Much to my relief, they made straight for Belinda's table and sat with her, freeing me. I went over to talk to Charis's husband Paul.
Paul immediately remarked on my Harlequins RL shirt. It turns out he too is a rugby league fan! We had a lengthy conversation about the great game. He's been a devotee via television for many years but never been to a live match, so we ended by agreeing we'd go up together for a Quins match when his health has improved.
I sat down with Vanessa and co just as John the chauffeur arrived. A rugby union fan, he immediately recognised my Harlequins colours, but didn't realise my shirt was of the 'other code' until I showed him the letters RL under the badge :) Jade arrived not long after, she came over and sat with us, and I spent most of the rest of the evening talking to Vanessa and Jade, despite the constant efforts of my mother to get me on the dancefloor.
She did peel me away just after 9.30 to join a family group photo and to enable Aunt Marian to present us both with 'an award for our services as Mayor and Consort - the CDMB', which turned out to be a big bag of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Buttons.
The one song that got me up on the floor was Amarillo, and for that I wisely just did the Peter Kay walk rather than attempting to dance.
I took a time-out to talk to the other drivers, Pete and Arron. Arron bought me a Magners, as did Marge a little later. By the end of the night I was sozzled.
And then it was back to work this morning. For the first hour or so I was propping my eyes open. Then Sally kept coming up trying to talk to me, only to find me engaged in a call every time. Eventually she caught me between calls and said Mary wanted to see me. Mary had good news : she said I could switch to 9 am to 2 pm shifts from next Wednesday, and, because of my situation with buses, this won't be part of the experiment but a permanent move for me.
Among the first arrivals were Father Ted and his wife. When it came up in conversation that I'm going to Åland for my holiday, and that although it's part of Finland they speak Swedish there, that was enough to send Ted into an account of a church visit he'd made to Sweden and a description of the constitution of the Swedish Lutheran Church - unlike other Lutheran churches it has bishops and is very like the Anglican Church. You learn something new every day.
As people began to arrive, for a while I was stuck with my mother's friend Belinda who came to sit at my table. Much of the time we struggled to find much to say to each other, so both resorted to regularly dipping into the peanut bowl. An elderly lady called Marge, who filled up the bowls on all the tables, gets the Letitia Cropley Award, as we immediately spotted that she'd mixed dry roasted nuts in with tropical mix! At least the awkward pauses were partly filled by our having to pick out the dry roasted nuts from our handfuls one by one...
While I was at the bar greeting Vanessa and family, Graham and Juliette arrived. Much to my relief, they made straight for Belinda's table and sat with her, freeing me. I went over to talk to Charis's husband Paul.
Paul immediately remarked on my Harlequins RL shirt. It turns out he too is a rugby league fan! We had a lengthy conversation about the great game. He's been a devotee via television for many years but never been to a live match, so we ended by agreeing we'd go up together for a Quins match when his health has improved.
I sat down with Vanessa and co just as John the chauffeur arrived. A rugby union fan, he immediately recognised my Harlequins colours, but didn't realise my shirt was of the 'other code' until I showed him the letters RL under the badge :) Jade arrived not long after, she came over and sat with us, and I spent most of the rest of the evening talking to Vanessa and Jade, despite the constant efforts of my mother to get me on the dancefloor.
She did peel me away just after 9.30 to join a family group photo and to enable Aunt Marian to present us both with 'an award for our services as Mayor and Consort - the CDMB', which turned out to be a big bag of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Buttons.
The one song that got me up on the floor was Amarillo, and for that I wisely just did the Peter Kay walk rather than attempting to dance.
I took a time-out to talk to the other drivers, Pete and Arron. Arron bought me a Magners, as did Marge a little later. By the end of the night I was sozzled.
And then it was back to work this morning. For the first hour or so I was propping my eyes open. Then Sally kept coming up trying to talk to me, only to find me engaged in a call every time. Eventually she caught me between calls and said Mary wanted to see me. Mary had good news : she said I could switch to 9 am to 2 pm shifts from next Wednesday, and, because of my situation with buses, this won't be part of the experiment but a permanent move for me.